After the death of Franco and the need for political parties to emerge from clandestinity, in 1976, Jokin Inza from Bergara delivered an envelope with a message from D. Manuel de Irujo to this personality: “We have to build the house and you are fundamental to start laying the bricks.” Therefore, this figure was already surrounded by the prestige of being Navarrese, a promoter of ikastolas, a new Basque speaker, as well as a businessman, combining in his curriculum having been president of the Chamber of Commerce of Pamplona.

He was part of the Euzkadi Buru Batzar from 1977 to 1980, until he was elected lehendakari. His leadership was closely observed. After the legislative elections of 1979, the opportunity arose to present him as president of the General Basque Council, replacing Ramón Rubial, who had presided since 1978. Previously, the incompatibility had to be lifted so that he could continue to be president of the PNV's EBB. This was fundamental, and the internal management, though not easy, was achieved.

This was decisive in the statutory negotiation in 1979. He wore two hats: that of president of the General Basque Council, an institutional figure, and that of the EBB. The Communist Movement, the EMK, released a poster showing this figure shaking hands with Adolfo Suárez, implying that both represented the same thing. Likewise, from HB it was said that nothing should be negotiated for three territories to achieve a “vascongadillo statute.” However, that poster meant that the negotiation was face-to-face, and that the text was good, and furthermore, it was negotiated by a Navarrese living in Pamplona.

He did very well, and public opinion focused on this young, modern, and forceful politician who knew how to reach agreements. And the referendum of October 25, 1979, corroborated the people's desire to channel their situation in the face of the world of ETA and the inertia of the past. Hence, in December 1979, at the foot of the airplane steps arriving from Paris with lehendakari Leizaola from exile, this figure was there to receive him, and the next day, in Gernika, Leizaola handed him the keys to the institution, a government whose legitimacy he had preserved after Aguirre's death in 1960.

It was not difficult, therefore, for this figure to be the PNV's candidate for lehendakari in March 1980 after the approval of the Statute of Gernika. “A whole Government for a whole people” was the slogan of that winning campaign. And history did not begin to walk but to gallop. Those were not easy times. ETA killed one person every three days that year, 1980, and the governing party in Madrid, the UCD, was unraveling in internal disputes. But the return of the Economic Agreement for Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia was achieved, and the path of constant struggle with the High State Administration began so that the approved Statute would not remain a dead letter. Osakidetza, the Ertzaintza, EITB, the official anthem… All this went awry with internal disputes. There was a lack of democratic culture. Either all or nothing. Well, nothing. Each one on their own. It weakened and entered a bad spiral that led to an incomprehensible division that weakened it agonizingly. But time passed, and the Sabino Arana Foundation awarded him its annual prize in 2005, and lehendakari Pradales honored him last year.

His legacy will not be limited to the hard struggle from 1986 onwards but to his crucial role as a representative of an immense democratic illusion after that aberrant dictatorship, leading a modern Basque nationalism full of achievements. Spreading what was done well is the great pending task. As he wanted. He is already in Basque history. Our gratitude for his dedication to the cause of Euzkadi.